Abstract: 

Since the discovery of fission, nuclear chain reactions, and nuclear weapons, preventing the spread of nuclear weapons has become a top priority for our nation and the world. Several international treaties have been put into place to curb the expansion of nuclear capabilities. Nevertheless, there are states that may be pursuing elements of an overt or covert nuclear weapons program. New science and technology developments are needed to verify the existing or proposed treaties in this area and to ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again.

In this presentation, I will discuss these challenges and the recent advances in science and technology that contribute to solving them. I will present our Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV), a consortium of 14 universities and 13 national laboratories working together on these issues. I will highlight research within the MTV thrust areas: (1) Fundamentals of Nuclear and Particle Physics, (2) Signals and Source Terms for Nuclear Nonproliferation, and (3) Nuclear Explosion Monitoring. Research highlights will include our studies on the fundamental emissions from nuclear fission, and the development of new detection systems for nuclear materials detection, localization, and characterization.